A Good Son
by Mealyna
Summary: A One-shot floating around my head.


**_This is my first Fallout Fanfiction. Although not my first Fallout game. I wanted to play with Shaun/Father's mind a little. I'd figured him for a little messed up mentally, but that he really does care for his parents. It divulges here and there and really this is just wish fulfillment._**

 _ **I own nothing.**_

* * *

I am a good son.

When I was ripped from my parents arms and brought up into this world, I accepted what the Institute told me taught me. Never questioned. Worked in tandem. Occasionally I'd wonder which side I favored, my father, or my mother. The files I had read on them referred to them by project name and classification. One of them had a deceased file, but further reading was... restricted in my younger years. A young boy learns to shake these things off.

As I grew older, I watched my own projects flourish and I quickly rose through the ranks. My Synths. They were so lifelike. So real. I was the Institutes golden child, Father of the Synths. I was made Director.

I had not thought on my bloodlines in a long while.

It was an accident that I opened their files again. My parents. My father, Nathan, a dark haired military man gone civilian, had carried me into the vaults, clutched me to him as we were betrayed by Vault Tec, and was shot by that monster Kellog. I looked like him in the face and eyes. Which left my mother.

I am a good son.

My mother. Nora. Maybe it was the maternal absence growing up. But something called to me when I looked at my mother's file. A longing, fierce and wasn't unlike the obsession on which I pursued my projects, but I found myself cataloging my mother as beautiful. With her ginger hair and freckled face, I had a hazy memory of the scent of something spicy sweet an a smile lit by sunlight.

And my next project began. A child-like Synth. Perfect. I modeled several such after myself, gave them my name, sent them into the field to be tested. Finally, I had someone re-wake my mother. She'd not aged a day.

I am a good son.

I had heard about the rage of mother's and their children. But I hadn't expected my mother's vengeance to be cut in such a wide swath. Her anger, her fury. It was powerful. She made allies. She made enemies. All in the name of the son she had lost. All in my name. Something in me had stirred. Pride? Maybe.

She was certainly resourceful. Built things up, bowled things over. There was nothing she didn't use to her advantage. No bridge she wouldn't cross to get to me. But she had thought a mere ten years had passed in her Cyro-sleep. Rightfully so and I used that to my advantage.

I am a good son.

My agents were always looking for her. Sending me back data. Something pooled in me when I found she had taken up dalliance with a Paladin of the Brotherhood. Anger. How are she just forget my father? A ridiculous thought and I knew it. Father had been dead for over sixty years. She ha every right to move on. But it did nothing to alleviate the anger in me.

Soon she found a way into the Institute. I knew her cohorts would have a way to try and find data and that's why I left our firewalls down. Fed them information on certain Synths. The Paladin would not be a problem. I had also set a Shaun-synth as well and I hid and baited her to come close. She did.

I am a good son.

Listening to her plead, listening to her beg for the machine to recognize her was touching. The machine however refused to listen. Not what I was hoping for. I cut my experiment short and stepped to meet my mother.

She seemed wary, but after every question answered, every riddle solved I saw the change in her face. She believed me, and broke down crying, throwing her arms around me. I hadn't been hugged in my sixty some odd years of life. Sure I'd had tumbles but nothing compared to the feeling of a maternal embrace.

I am a good son.

I gave her a tour of the facility. Introduced her to my senior staff. She was gracious, if wary. She never strayed from my side. Finally I brought the subject of leaving the Brotherhood and coming to stay with me. She seemed hesitant but agreed. She'd become an Institute agent.

She was one of the finest. Dealt with work quickly, effectively. Her dalliance with the Paladin didn't stop however. No, it grew. Even when his true nature was revealed she stood by its side. I ignored it for awhile. The Brotherhood's threat took precedence.

I am a good son.

When the Brotherhood had been taken care of, I gave Mother some time off, and set to another little project that I hid from her. This new Synth would be a unique model. It took some time and as it neared its completion I sent a courser for the Paladin. The results were immediate.

"SHAUN!" Mother's voice echoed though the Institute. I hid the new Synth in my room as a strode to greet her. She was dragging the Paladin's body. Her eyes were wild desperate. "Shaun! You fix him! You fix him now! I know you can!" She begged.

"No mother. But I thank you for bringing his body back." I am a good son.

"I have never asked you for anything but this! Bring him back! Please!"

"No." I _am_ a good son.

"I LOST YOUR FATHER AND I VERY NEARLY LOST YOU. GIVE ME THIS, PLEASE! BRING HIM BACK!Bring him back! Bring him back!" She dropped the body and fell to her knees, green dress billowing about her. "Bring him back..."

"Nora?" The new Synth responded to my mother's voice, just as I had planned. The new Synth rounded the corner and Mother's aquamarine eyes widened, the Paladin forgotten. A wave of my had and two other Synths dragged its body from the room as mother rose to approach her gift. "Nora, I missed you so much! Where did you go?"

"He's all for you mother. It was quite some work to get him operational, but well... Mother's Day was last week technically."

She ignored me. "Nate?"

The Nate-Synth grabbed my mother and pulled her close. "Welcome home hon."

 _I am a good son._


End file.
